This Week At Bungie - 8/22/2019

This week at Bungie, we broke down a barrier.

Over the last few months, we've been talking about the future of the Destiny franchise. From the ViDoc to the recently released Director's Cut articles (Parts I, II, and III), we've unraveled a map and plotted a course for our future. This week, we took one of our bigger steps with Cross Save.

For many of us, this is one of the most exciting pieces of the puzzle. Our teams have been hard at work to bring this feature to Destiny 2 and enable you to play with your friends, no matter which platform they call home. We've already started seeing reunions throughout the community on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. If you haven't shared your story yet, let us know on Twitter or the forums. Who are you most excited to fight the Darkness with, now that Cross Save is live?

This week was indeed a busy one, as we've also deployed an away team to gamescom in Germany, to dish out some new details on Shadowkeep and Season of the Undying. If you missed the news, be sure to check out the videos below!

Inside Xbox: Finishers

Shadowkeep gamescom trailer

Season of the Undying trailer

Now, let's look to our immediate future. We've begun preparations for the PC move to Steam, and we have some live game calendar updates to discuss.

Migratory Preparations

This week, we also began the transition of Destiny 2 to Steam. Players can now begin to prepare for the launch of Shadowkeep by linking their Steam and Battle.net accounts using the Bungie.net/PCMove portal, with Destiny 2 becoming available on Steam starting October 1. This will ensure that all of your Guardians, Gear, Game ownership and Silver will be available at Shadowkeep launch.

NOTE: As we prepare to transition Destiny 2 to Steam, your last chance to purchase Destiny 2, any expansions, or Silver on Battle.net is September 3, 2019. Additionally, players may pre-order Destiny 2: Shadowkeep on Steam, but will not be able to play until October 1. Additionally, players may begin to purchase Silver on Steam starting October 1.

With Season of Opulence coming to a close, we wanted to make sure you had ample time to get into the action with your friends on PC and got proper warning before your favorite Eververse items went on hiatus. Make sure to grab Silver before September 3, so you don't miss your final chances to snag some community favorites:

Iron and Valor

Next week begins your final month of the Season of Opulence. Lord Saladin returns with the power-enabled combat of the Iron Banner.

Start: August 27, 10 AM PDT
End: September 3, 10 AM PDT

Increased Valor also returns, so if you're hunting for those final resets required for the Redrix's Broadsword quest, this is the perfect time to jump in. Moments of Triumph has also been extended through September 17, so this may help you earn the Crucible pinnacle weapon that's been holding you back from the "MMXIX" title.

September Community Challenge: Mars

Whether we wanted it or not, we've stepped into a war with the Hive on Mars. So let's get to taking out their... wait a second, this isn't what I meant to start with.

With a bit of extra time before Shadowkeep ships, we thought it would be a good idea to get the community in fighting shape to return to the Moon. Not just you, but the entire community. What better way to focus your attention on the Hive than to challenge you in the ways of old? As we have a Quality of Life update coming on September 3 that touches some Mars content, why not double down and maybe help a few aspiring Wayfarers along the way....

Start: September 3, 10 AM PDT 
End: September 10, 10 AM PDT

Community Objectives: 

• Defeat 175 thousand Wave 7 Escalation Protocol bosses 
• Defeat 300 million Hive on Mars 
• Mars Nightfalls
  • Defeat Nokris 150 thousand times
  • Defeat Xol 100 thousand times
• Use 300 thousand Override Frequencies

Rewards:
Now, this wouldn't be interesting without rewards. If all objectives are completed during the event, any player to complete at least one Nightfall will be granted a unique emblem, granted to only those who rose to the Mars challenge.

This also serves as an opportunity for you to further impress Emperor Calus. If the community reaches all the above goals, Calus will unlock additional rewards for successful Menagerie completions. Starting when goals are met, players will be guaranteed two rewards when slotting their runes and opening the chest, and an additional reward will be added each Friday for the remainder of the Season.

Good luck, Guardians. We'll be watching.

Keeping It Clean

For every deployment, there's a risk that wires may get crossed or things may fall out of place. Destiny Player Support has been holding the line in the face of cross save and PC migration, ensuring FAQs and need-to-knows are available for your consumption. Now that both of these features are live, they have updates.

This is their report.

Steam Linking and Cross Save
This week, Steam Linking and Cross Save went live for all Destiny 2 players on Bungie.net.

Steam Linking is a preparatory step for PC players for when Destiny 2 moves to Steam this fall, and is required before PC players can enable Cross Save. To initiate Steam Linking, please visit our PC Move page.

Cross Save allows players to bring their preferred set of Guardians with them across all supported platforms in Destiny 2. To enable Cross Save, please visit our Cross Save page.

Cross Save: 90-Day Waiting Period
As we've mentioned in past weeks, players who disable Cross Save will encounter a 90-day waiting period before Cross Save can be re-enabled. This is a security feature that safeguards players from a number of worst-case scenarios.

In addition to disabling Cross Save, any of the following actions will also result in a waiting period where Cross Save cannot be enabled or disabled:

• Players who purchase Silver cannot disable Cross Save until 90 days after the Silver was purchased
• Players who perform a refund for purchased Silver through a platform storefront cannot activate Cross Save until that Silver is re-purchased for that account
• Players subject to a ban or restriction cannot activate Cross Save, or disable Cross Save if it is already active, until that ban or restriction has expired

This information has been added to our updated Cross Save FAQ.

Players who encounter other issues with Cross Save are encouraged to report to the #Help forum.

Solstice of Heroes Ending Soon
This week is the final week for players to participate in Solstice of Heroes 2019.

At the weekly reset next Tuesday, August 27, Solstice of Heroes will end and the European Aerial Zone will no longer be accessible. Additionally, players will no longer be able to upgrade their Uncommon (Drained) or Rare (Renewed) Solstice of Heroes armor sets.

Players who have unlocked the Legendary (Majestic) armor sets may continue to complete objectives and masterwork their armor after Solstice of Heroes concludes. For those of you who missed Shattered Throne last time it was available, it will be returning on August 27.

Popcorn: Butter, Cheese, or Chocolate?

Sure is lonely here in the Community pod. With DeeJ in Germany for gamescom and Cozmo on diaper duty, it's a rough life. I brought in donuts on Wednesday, and I had to eat half the box all by myself. At least Griffin was here to finish the other half. As we sat eating our lonely donuts, we came across a few awesome MOTW contenders. Here's what we've got this week:

Movie of the Week: Live Action

Honorable Mention: Heroically Whispering... with speed!

If you'd like to put your name in the hat for Movie of the Week, make sure to post your content to the Community Creations page on bungie.net, or throw a video to myself or Cozmo on Twitter.

What a wonderful week. I'm excited for the weekend but greatly enjoyed watching the community chatter as we entered the final week of Solstice. I'm on the final stretch for my Legendary armor, with just a few objectives left on my Warlock to complete. Final stop: EAZ. The question is, where will you find me? Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or PC?

Community Art: Aviixe: EAZ Freefall

Probably going to play on all three this weekend, thanks to cross save. See you out there.

Cheers,
Dmg04